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Are you thinking of launching an SEO campaign, but feeling overwhelmed by it? Not sure if it will offer the results you’re looking for? Not even sure of all the terminology?
Search engine optimization is becoming increasingly important as businesses and brands fight for the audience’s attention. In an overcrowded marketplace, it can be the tool that lets you stand out.
It’s essential, then, to know how to get it right. Knowing what works doesn’t just set you up for success. It also helps you avoid what doesn’t.
A great example of this is white hat vs black hat SEO. Trying to follow best practices while also seeking quick results can lead to difficult choices. Knowing what each offer will help you make the right choices.
Keep reading for all you need to know about black hat vs white hat SEO.
The terms white hat and black hat are shorthand for good guys and bad guys. White hat SEO then refers to accepted SEO practices.
What makes SEO practices acceptable? Simply put, search engines have expectations of how websites should optimize their pages. They want sites to accurately represent themselves so that the search engines can accurately provide results to search queries.
It’s in the best interest of search engines to provide users with relevant results for their searches. They do this by crawling the web and indexing sites based on how they’re optimized.
Optimizing your site makes it easier for search engines to crawl it, letting them assess your content. Following current webmaster guidelines eases this process, which search engines reward by increasing your ranking.
Proper optimization of a site involves creating high-quality content that identifies itself as such to the search engines. It utilizes longtail keywords to ensure it’s serving the needs of the audience.
A strong supporting factor is backlinks. The more legitimate the website is that link to your content, the greater your content’s legitimacy. The flow of traffic directed toward you establishes authority, further improving your ranking.
Getting positive reviews from satisfied customers is also a powerful white hat tool. People love recommendations, so search engines use these reviews when assessing a site’s ranking.
Properly optimizing your site takes time and effort. Creating quality content doesn’t just happen. It would be best if you had a solid understanding of your audience so that you can provide the resources they’re looking for.
Researching, producing, and editing all take time. After that, the articles need to be posted and marketed. They need to be distributed across social media platforms to find an audience.
Repeating this process each time a new piece of content is created is an investment in time. It takes trust in the process that results will come.
It’s the quest for quick results that can push people toward black hat techniques. They may logically understand the SEO process but want results now, darn it!
And that’s what black hat SEO offers. Quick, easy results don’t worry about providing your audience with the answers they need. Instead, you can game the search engine algorithms and drive them to your website that way.
Think about it: you’re launching a new business, and you want results quickly. Sure, having a blog is something you’ll get to, but you need traffic and fast. Why not just shoot a few bucks to this guy on some for-hire site to get things done? Guaranteed results!
Moreover, there may be quick results. You may find a spike in page visits. The only problem is, they won’t last. Worse yet, the penalties can last longer than a legitimate SEO campaign would have taken.
White hat SEO focuses on giving the user what they’re looking for. Black hat SEO looks to manipulate the algorithm that search engines use to return results.
People who participate in black hat techniques take the foundations of SEO and find shortcuts to get results. They understand what the search engines want, then trick them into thinking your site has it.
One way they do this is through backlinks. Recognizing the importance of backlinks, they’ll create a number of links to your site from spam sites. These sites have no real value beyond linking to other sites.
Another technique is called content scraping. Looking to capitalize on the importance of content, they’ll simply plagiarize content from other sites and insert it on yours.
Positive reviews from dummy accounts is another way to try and manipulate the system. Profiles for people with no other digital presence are created to try and give the impression that your site offers value.
Clearly, the above practices are unethical. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have value, right? After all, you just need a quick boost to your traffic while you build your white hat SEO, right?
Dead. Wrong.
Search engines are constantly improving their algorithms. This means learning what black hat techniques are being used and knowing how to identify them.
If your site is caught participating in the above practices, you will be penalized. That means your site could disappear from search engines overnight, making you virtually undetectable to users searching for your services.
In this day and age, if you’re not found online, you may as well not exist.
Building a strong digital presence takes time and effort. It’s about recognizing the needs of your audience and providing them with it. It takes a well-built site, quality content, and effective marketing techniques.
White hat vs black hat SEO is the choice between following the approved, proven path to success, or risking a shortcut through the forbidden territory. One offers long-term rewards while the other is just a short-term thrill.
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